Cholera : orders, directions, and regulations of the Privy Council, under the Diseases Prevention Acts, and memoranda by their Medical Officer, with the particulars of the treatment recommended by the Royal College of Physicians, at the request of the Privy Council, and an introductory summary / by J.B. Hutchins.

  • Hutchins, J. B. (James B.)
Date:
1866
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Cholera : orders, directions, and regulations of the Privy Council, under the Diseases Prevention Acts, and memoranda by their Medical Officer, with the particulars of the treatment recommended by the Royal College of Physicians, at the request of the Privy Council, and an introductory summary / by J.B. Hutchins. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    the College, any, and if so, what suggestions might be issued as repre- . sentiiig tliG present state of medical knowledge and experience with regard (.to the drugs which should be given, or other treatment which should be 11 adopted, in attacks of Cholera, and especially in the beginnings of the Liisease, when proper medical attendance cannot be procured. Their .Lordships, at the same time, submitted to the College a copy of the in- -jtructions issued on previous occasions. To which the College replied— With reference to that part of the instructions on which their Lord- Lihips particularly request the opinion of the College—viz., that which t.'elates (1) to the necessity of avoiding purgative medicines during the prevalence of Cholera, and (2) the measures to be adopted when Cholera ifippears on board ship, the Committee think that. When opening medicine is required the mildest should be selected, as castor oil or rhubarb. Glauber's salts and Epsom salts are dangerous. The common belief that prolonged costiveness should not be interfered with during the prevalence of Cholera is erroneous. The master should ascertain by inquiry, morning and evening, whether any of the crew are labouring under such looseness, and if so the following recommendations are subjoined for his guidance :— . If a man be attacked with looseness of the bowels he should, r whenever it is possible, be sent to bed and kept warm, and some aromatic and astringent medicine, containing a small quantity of opium, should be given to him at once, and should be repealed every hour or two, according to the severity of the purging. It is suggested that ten grains of the aromatic powder of chalk and . p:um (of the British PliarmaeopcBia) should be so given in half a glass f peppermint water or weak brandy and water. Should this medicine ■Ot be at hand, five measured drops of laudanum may be substituted for ach dose of the powder. ' Large doses of opium or of ardent spirits should be avoided. - If the looseness should result from bad or obviously indigestible fOod, or if the discharges are unnaturally offensive and attended with ^Tiping pain, it would be desirable to give a dose of either of the gentle ixatives above named before administering the opiates. ' diet should consist mainl}' of beef-tea or broth, gruel or rice. '■ If the stools become colourless and watery (the purging being I 0